Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Tuesday, December 9, 2025
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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
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Les Woodland's book Paris-Roubaix: The Inside Story - All the bumps of cycling's cobbled classic is available in print, Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Upcoming racing:
- December 14: World Cup Namur
- December 23: Superprestige Heusden-Zolder
- December 26: World Cup Gavere
- December 29: Trofee Loenhout-Azencross
- December 30: Superprestige Diegem
- January 1: GP Sven Nys
Latest completed racing:
- November 16: Trofee Hamme-Flandriencross
- November 1: Trofee Oudenaarde-Koppenbergcross
- October 26: Superprestige Overijse-Vlaamse Druivencross
- October 14 - 19: Tour of Guangxi
- October 14 - 19: Tour of Holland
- October 19: Veneto Classic
- October 19: Japan Cup
- October 19: Chrono des Nations
- October 15: Giro del Veneto
- October 12: Paris-Tours
Here’s the team’s announcement:
The INEOS Grenadiers are pleased to confirm that Jack Haig will join the team in 2026, on a two-year contract.
The 32-year-old Australian arrives with a wealth of Grand Tour experience and over a decade competing at the highest level. A respected figure in the peloton, Haig claimed third overall at the 2021 Vuelta a España and has delivered a number of top-ten finishes at both the Critérium du Dauphiné and Paris-Nice.
Jack Haig said: “I’m really excited to be joining the INEOS Grenadiers. It’s a team I’ve followed closely since it started, and they’ve achieved so many great things in their history. To now be part of one of the best and most ambitious teams in the world, known for its professionalism and extremely high standards, is something I’m super proud of.
Jack Haig finishes fifth in 2021 Vuelta a España stage seven. Sirotti photo
“I can’t wait to get the season started, meet my new teammates, and play my part in challenging for future successes. I’m also looking forward to supporting some of the talented young guys who’ve joined the team.”
Geraint Thomas, Director of Racing, said: “I raced wheel to wheel against Jack for many years and he’s always impressed me. He’s a fighter and a grafter, and he knows what it takes to stand on the podium at a Grand Tour. I’m sure he’ll be a big part of what we’re going after in the next few years.”
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Here’s the team’s news:
Team Jayco AlUla has completed its roster for the 2026 season with the signing of the Belgian Dries De Pooter and Australian Rudy Porter.
De Pooter has penned a two-year contract with the team. The 23-year-old already has more than three years of experience racing in the WorldTour with two Grand Tours under his belt having completed the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España. A former member of Axel Merckx’s Hagens Berman Jayco development squad, the punchy Belgian is a man for the one-day races in his native homeland.
Porter returns to the team after a season away. The 24-year-old turned professional with the team in 2023, having impressed on the domestic scene and as a U23 in Europe, including top-five overall finishes at the Santos Festival of Cycling and the Alpes Isère Tour in 2022. During his time at Team Jayco AlUla, Porter developed as a rider and scored some promising results, but injury hampered his progression.
Dries De Pooter at the 2023 Tour of Norway
The GreenEDGE Cycling management are delighted to complete the 2026 roster with these two young riders and believe they can make good strides next season.
Dries De Pooter:
“I’m feeling super excited about joining this team, I grew up watching them rocking the TTTs back in the day and now to be part of this team with such a great history makes me super happy. I’m most looking forward to being part of the classics squad for next year and to giving it a shot at trying to win races together because that’s what makes us all start racing bikes in the end.”
Rudy Porter:
“I’m really excited to be coming back to GreenEDGE. Returning after the long injury I dealt with in 2024 feels especially meaningful. I’ve put in a huge amount of work to get back to full strength, and that period taught me a lot. It’ll be great to reconnect with familiar faces, meet the new ones and collectively work towards a successful year as a team.”
Gene Bates (Team Jayco AlUla Sporting Manager):
“We’re pleased to welcome both Rudy and Dries into the team for next season. One of our focusses for 2026 was rebuilding our Classic group and Dries is someone who fits the profile of what we are looking for.
"He is still young with lots of potential and paired alongside some of the more experienced riders in the Classics group, we believe he can develop and learn a lot from them. He’s already been racing at the top level for a few years now and has done two Grand Tours which is a big plus for a young rider.
"For Rudy, it will be his second time with GreenEDGE Cycling. It is great to see him come back after a season away from the WorldTour. He is a rider with plenty of talent, but injury has prevented him from really exploring his strengths as a rider. He has had a season to recover and reset, and we hope that with this opportunity that Rudy is able to show what he is capable of.”
Rudy Porter
New contract: 2026
Nationality: Australian
Age: 24
Key Results
1st Grafton-Inverell – NRC (2021)
2nd U23 Australian Road Race Championships (2021)
2nd Course de la Paix, overall classification (2022)
4th Santos Festival of Cycling, overall classification (2022)
4th Alpes Isere Tour, overall classification (2022)
9th Herald Sun Tour, overall classification (2020)
10th Tour Alsace, overall classification (2021)
Dries De Pooter
New contract: 2026 & 2027
Nationality: Belgian
Age: 23
Key Results
1st Tour de Kyushu - Stage 2 (2025)
1st Flanders Tomorrow Tour - Stage 1 (2022)
2nd Tour de Kyushu - Stage 3 (2025)
4th Tour of Oman - Stage 3 (2024)
7th Overall Tour de Kyushu (2025)
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Here’s the team’s news:
Uruguayan rider Thomas Silva will compete in the World Tour with XDS Astana Team starting from the next season. The contract is for two years (2026 and 2027).
The 23-year-old rider has already established himself as a strong one-day racer who performs confidently on hilly terrain and also possesses a powerful sprint. Thomas Silva is the current Uruguayan national champion. In the 2025 season, he won the mountains classification of the Vuelta a Andalucía, a stage at the Tour of Qinghai Lake, where he also finished 2nd overall, and a stage at the Grande Prémio Internacional Beiras e Serra da Estrela. In addition, Silva placed 4th at the Gran Premio Miguel Indurain and the Grand Prix du Morbihan.
Thomas Silva. Photo: Sprint Cycling
“I am very happy and inspired by the opportunity to take a big step into the World Tour with such a prestigious historical team as XDS Astana Team. I am looking forward to joining the team, anticipating the new season, and my motivation is at the highest level! There is a lot of work ahead, but I am ready to give my all to continue improving as a professional rider”, – said Thomas Silva.
“Over the past few years, Thomas Silva has grown significantly, and his progress at the pro-continental level has been very noticeable, so his move to the World Tour was only a matter of time. I am glad that we reached a consensus with Caja Rural – Seguros RGA management and were able to make this transition before the 2026 season. I believe that in our team, Thomas will have everything he needs to continue the forward momentum he has built over the past two seasons”, – said Alexandr Vinokurov, General Manager of XDS Astana Team.
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Here’s the team’s post:
The partnership will harness the expertise of the Gatorade Sports Science Institute to deliver personalized, performance-driven hydration strategies for its riders.
Lidl-Trek has entered a multi-year partnership with Gatorade and the Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI), bringing world-class hydration innovation to one of the peloton’s most ambitious teams. Through the collaboration, Lidl-Trek athletes will receive personalized hydration strategies grounded in GSSI’s industry-leading sweat analysis and performance-testing technologies, ensuring riders are primed for peak performance across the sport’s most demanding races. Notably, this marks Gatorade’s return to professional cycling for the first time since 2013.
As part of the partnership, Gatorade branding will feature prominently across the Lidl-Trek race kit, including jerseys, socks, and the team’s iconic Gatorade water bottles — long considered one of the most coveted roadside souvenirs in pro-cycling.
Team Lidl-Trek (shown before the start of the 2025 Milano-Sanremo) will be drinking Gatorade in 2026. Sirotti photo
With more than 60 years in the market, Gatorade has grown into a global icon. From professional sports locker rooms to high school gyms and science labs to Formula 1 tracks, the drink has been fueling the greatest athletes in the world for generations. Through this collaboration, Lidl-Trek is perfecting race-day hydration to the finest detail. In modern cycling, even a marginal gain can mean the difference between victory and second place. Minor dehydration can compromise power, precision, and decision-making in critical race moments. Through the partnership, Lidl-Trek aims to unlock measurable performance advantages with precisely tailored hydration strategies.
“Hydration isn’t about drinking more — it’s about drinking smarter,” said Josu Larrazabal, Head of Performance at Lidl-Trek. “Working with Gatorade and the GSSI allows us to conduct individual sweat testing and build personalized hydration programs based on each rider’s physiology, workload, and environmental conditions. It’s a detail that may seem small, but it’s one that can deliver a real competitive edge and enable our riders to perform at their absolute best.”
Natalia Filippociants, GM PepsiCo Beverages Europe, responded: “Gatorade has powered some of the world’s best athletes for years and we are proud to bring that same science and support to professional cycling. At the heart of it, our mission stays simple – to help every athlete do a little better, whether you are in the pro peloton or out on your local ride. With GSSI’s sweat testing, every Lidl-Trek rider gets a hydration plan made exactly for them. It’s clear, precise, personal, and backed by real science. Gatorade gives athletes the carbohydrates for energy and the fluids and electrolytes they lose while sweating. That’s how we help unlock that extra one percent with smart, science-led hydration that supports performance.”
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